Arizona - the valley of the sun!

We made it to Arizona last Thursday night, or should I say Friday morning and pulled up to my best friend Sarah's gorgeous home in Avondale, Arizona, where we spent the next 5 nights with her and her awesome husband Caleb! 

I just have to throw this in here... Sarah is my most crafty friend!  So crafty in fact, that she has her very own craft room complete with a gorgeous wall which she took 3 days to trace and hand paint!  Anyone else out there swooning with me?!

I was so excited to be reunited with Sarah and to be back in "the valley of the sun" with Aaron, who's never been here!  I'm such a sucker for playing tour guide!  Poor guy had to see every house I ever lived in and all my favorite stores and restaurants!

I got up early Friday morning and had breakfast with Sarah and Caleb before they left for work and then Aaron and I drove to downtown Phoenix to pay a visit to the Social Security office, so I could officially become an Osteen! This little paper just proves I really did it! 

Introducing: Mrs Osteen!

(instagram pic) 

Then it was off to lunch at Hob Nobs, a darling cafe in an old historic home in the heart of the Willow Historic District of downtown!

If you're ever in Phoenix, do yourself a favor and stop in for lunch!  Their vegetable quiche was delish!

 Then, it was off to see Sarah in action at her job at Grand Canyon University!  Being there and seeing her adorable office made me miss having an office job!  Am I the only person out there who can relate?!  There's just something about having a big desk, comfy chair, picture window and a long list of tasks to complete that makes me a little giddy!   

You know what else makes me giddy?  Frozen Yogurt!  Grand Canyon University has an actual frozen yogurt shop ON CAMPUS and Sarah's co-worker treated Aaron, Sarah and I to a bowl!  SCORE.

No, this isn't a 5 year old's bowl of frozen yogurt... it's mine.  The secret's out - I'm a sucker for kid-style toppings!  And yes, there's actually frozen yogurt under there somewhere!

Next stop on the agenda was a hang out date and backyard BBQ at the Murphy's!  Have you ever seen cuter kids than these three?!  They were so fun to hang out and play with, and the BBQ London Broil was the icing on the cake!  Good friends and cute kids are just what the doctor ordered! 

(instagram pic)   

As if today wasn't enough fun... Aaron picked me up from the Murphys and we drove right on over to some more friend's house - Mark and Jill's, where we were met with giant hugs and big smiles from the two of them and my sweet friends Seth and Brittany and Brittany's friend Jaime, who's been reading my blog since the beginning! :) The weather was PERFECT, so we ate dinner together out on their picnic table in their GIGANTIC backyard, complete with a chicken coop and comfy furniture. We spent the next 5 hours catching up on life, sipping wine and eating Mark's homemade ice cream!  I'm kinda bummed that this is the photo we took to commemorate the night, because it was practically magical outside and we never even hung out inside. lol (Sorry for posting the photo of you with your eyes closed Seth! lol)  Love you guys and so blessed by your friendship!!!

Saturday was spent at Sarah's in-law's house down the street, who I adore!  Caleb has an older brother, 3 sisters, 4 nieces, 1 nephew, a phenomenal set of parents, and a huge golden doodle named Judah!  We spent the whole afternoon playing around the pool, competing in ladder ball, cooking lunch together and just enjoying time in the sun with family!  :) 

We left the family party around 5:00pm to head to the movie theater for a double date!  I can't tell you how fun it is for Sarah and I to have our 2 guys together for the first time. :)  And for the record, if you haven't seen it yet, buy your tickets this weekend for the movie: "42"!  I lllloooooovvveeeeddd it and may have even shed a few tears at the happy parts!  We spent the next couple hours after the movie at Chipotle and a sporting goods store, checking out backpacking gear and buying a fishing pole!

On Sunday morning, I went to coffee with Sarah and Caleb and then drove to Phoenix with Sarah to see one of my good friends lead worship at Living Streams. It was so great to be with him, my 2 best girlfriends and some other friends who I hadn't seen in years.  The Murphy "party of 5" totally has my heart!

(instagram pic) 

The Murphys, Sarah and I all had lunch together at Paradise Bakery after church, which was delicious and gave us even more time to catch up!  After lunch, Sarah and I went back to hang with the boys at home.  The rest of the night was spent hunkered down in the house in our PJ's!  Aaron and I made a stir fry for dinner for them, which was fun and we spent the rest of the night lounging in the loft watching the new 007!

On Monday, Sarah took off work so we could have some more girl time together! :)  We spent most of the morning creating her BRAND NEW BLOG! I love when friends create blogs!  But I'm especially excited about this one, because it's called:

Bringing Home Baby Thatcher!

(Home from Uganda that is!)  Yep, Sarah and Caleb are adopting a baby from Africa!  I practically cried when she told Aaron and I our first night here. Then I totally cried when I read her first blog post before she posted it, and then I cried AGAIN when I wrote a little message on her facebook wall about how great of a mom she'll be.  I'm just so excited for them!  Check out their blog when you get a chance, and if you feel led, throw out a little donation for them, PLEASE!  The cost of adoption is like buying a brand new Lexus, so they can use all the extra help they can get!  You can actually be a part of bringing baby Thatcher home! :)

Sarah's sister in law, Aubrey, came over with her "little pipsqueak" as they call her, Piper!  Aubrey also writes a fantastic blog about being a new mom, natural birth, etc!  Check it out here!  Is that not the happiest little baby?!

Around lunch time, Sarah and I drove over to have lunch with my long time friend Liz!  Her son was in my youth group almost 10 years ago and has now grown into a fabulous musician!  Spending time with Liz was sooo refreshing!  She's the life of the party and you can't help but be in a good mood when she's around!  Love you Liz!  

Just a little updated besties shot! :)  Thanks A.

Next on the agenda was something Aaron and I have been looking forward to for years - A hang out sesh / mentoring time with some of our favorite photographers, Andrew and Emily Fleming, who own Andrew Jade Photography in Arizona. We've been following them since they started and are probably their biggest fans, so to get to spend a couple hours with them, racking their brains with business questions, was INVALUABLE!  Thank you, thank you, thank you if you're reading this! Oh, and as if meeting with them wasn't enough, we actually had the opportunity to 2nd shoot with Andrew later that night!  AWESOME!

On Tuesday morning, I pulled myself out of bed early to get in a mini photo shoot with Sarah and Caleb to create a photo banner for the top of their adoption blog before they headed off to work!  :)

Then I headed back home to get ready, paid Target a little visit, then spent an hour in Starbucks sipping my vanilla latte and returning e-mails. As a side note: I LOVE E-MAILS!  I'm such a huge fan of reading people's thoughts.  Then I went to visit old co-workers at Millennium High School, where I used to work before I moved to Korea.  Everyone was sooo welcoming, excited for me and Aaron, and so interested in hearing about all our adventures. The questions just kept coming, and if you know me, you know I love to ask and answer questions!  I'm such a lover of details!  At points it felt like we had all gotten together for a coffee date as 10 or so of us all huddled around the guidance office lobby chatting and catching up!  Just like old times!  :)

Then it was off to see my super adorable friend April, who has also become a mommy of 2 beautiful girls since I left Arizona!  Today was a hilarious potty training extravaganza while we visited!  I'm proud to say that her oldest went "potty" 4 times while I was there, and April's been trying to get her to do that for weeks! I think someone was trying to show off for her Auntie Jillers!  Either way, I had an honest glimpse at having a spontaneously peeing toddler and a baby, and was just happy that my only responsibility is to be a good wife, daughter and friend... isn't that enough, anyway?!   I have so much respect for moms and for April!  She is one of the best moms I know. 

The rest of the night was spent hanging in the kitchen with Sarah and Caleb and grocery shopping and re-packing for our big adventure, which starts at 8:00am tomorrow morning...YAY! First stop is the DMV for my new license, then we're off to a night in Sedona, which we just decided on a couple hours ago.  Who was I kidding when I thought scheduling every moment of a trip was important 4 years ago.  Spontaneity is the key to adventure people, and I'm hoping that's what we have!  

See you later Phoenix!  Thanks for another great time. :)

Our last few days in Cali...

My last few days in California were spent waiting for the phone to ring with the call that the title for the car we wanted to buy was ready to be picked up, eating at our favorite spots, having doughnut shop runs with my dad, shopping with my mom, driving the coast, and seeing old friends!  I spent the whole afternoon with my old College RD, mentor, and close friend, Amanda... 

... at Vanguard University, where I spent 4 years of my life and 1 year as an RA!  

The place looked just like I remembered it, which isn't saying much, considering I graduated 10 years ago, but in a way, I loved that I came back and all my favorite hang out spots were just like they were then... one of which is the cafeteria, which is where we went for lunch, per my request!  Everyone thought I was crazy to wanna eat there, but it's just about as good as it gets!  

They had EVERYTHING!!!

The next day, Aaron and I headed to The Block, which is now an outlet mall, where we did a little H&M run (surprise, surprise) and hit up the Vans Skate Park, where I used to hang out in college, making skateboarding videos... yep, skateboarding videos!  "Go VUSC Digital Media Production Majors!"  (instagram pic)   

I joke that after spending 4 years in Korea, I'm part Korean, but it's no joke when it comes to my appetite!  I've been craving Korean food since we left... So when I found out there was a Korea Town less than 10 miles from my parents house, I had to go!  Aaron and I were the only caucasions in the restaurant, so we spoke Korean the whole time.  They got the biggest kick out of us, and we were just thrilled to be eating bi-bim-bap and getting to practice Korean again! (instagram pic)

Timing is a funny thing sometimes!  The timing for seeing my old college roommate Lynzi, her husband Beau, and their 3 ADORABLE kids couldn't have been better.  They've been living in Australia for the past 2 years and moved home to CA just a couple days ago!  We were able to connect, and had the BEST 4 hours, catching up and sharing travel and life stories before we headed off to Arizona!  (instagram pic)   

The next morning, we decided to take a bike ride down to the boardwalk on the beach and over to Main Street for lunch!  17 miles later, most of which were riding straight into the wind (UGH!!!), we returned to my parents house with shaky legs, sore buts and head colds!  Luckily, we were happy to have had the workout, and my pancakes at Sugar Shack on Main St were DEFINITELY worth the workout!  

We weren't sure we were EVER going to buy a car!  We were being REALLY picky because we only wanted a 4runner and preferably a white one.  Sadly, there aren't many for sale and when they are, they go within days!  Without boring you with all the details, I'll just say we found one, bought it and returned it to the dealership 2 minutes after we left the lot. :( The check engine light came on right away and we had that gut feeling that while it was perfect inside and out, the mechanics were probably LEMON material!  Luckily the dealership realized it too and gave us our money back, which happens to be nearly unheard of!!  So, we found another 4runner that was better than we had even hoped for and we patiently (yeah right!) waited 2 weeks for the title to be sent to the bank so we could pick it up in person and get the car registered.  I'm proud to say that we paid cash, Dave Ramsey style, for our very first car together!  Woot Woot!  (instagram pic)   

The morning after we brought the car home, we had one last doughnut shop run with my parents, then packed the 4runner to the brim and stopped at the park nearby to get some updated family shots. :)

Then we reluctantly said goodbye to my sweet and VERY accommodating parents!  If they had their way we would have stayed another 2 and a half weeks at their house, or more, which would have been super nice!!  Miss them already!

We jumped on the road around 2:00pm and stopped off an hour away in Riverside, to have an early dinner with Ashley, who's back from Korea and living in Canyon Lake, CA!  It was sssooooo nice to see her again and to be reunited in our home state of Cali!  Weird that we had to go all the way to Asia to meet each other, but it was worth it!  She's one that'll be around for a long, long, long time in my life! 

We took a little spin around the parking lot in her adorable VW convertible before saying goodbye for an indefinite period of time. Ugh. I really hope our trip back to Cali is soon!

And just like that, we bid farewell to California and began our road trip to our first stop; Arizona! After stopping at the Flying J, a couple other random gas stations, and my 2nd house in AZ, we made it to my best friend Sarah's house just in time for the clock to strike midnight!  We're so happy to be in Arizona and I'm excited to see some old friends and show Aaron my old stomping grounds for the next couple days!

Take me out to the ballgame...

On Sunday afternoon, Aaron and I, along with my awesome mom and dad, went to see an Angels game!  Thanks to StubHub, we had great seats on the ground floor for $16! 

Aaron is a huge sports fan and loves baseball.  If he has his way in this road trip we're about to take, we'll end up at a major league baseball game in every major city we pass through! :)  

It was the first game in almost 2 decades that my mom had been to, so it was extra fun to have her around... and my dad was Mr Personality, talking to everyone around us! :)

Thanks to him, we met this adorable family in the row right behind us!  They had reserved the ENTIRE row for their family members and were passing AMAZING cupcakes, licorice, peanuts and all kinds of other goodies around, always offering them to the 4 of us too!  SCORE!  I ate the FIRST delicious cupcake I'd had in 4 years!  Korea just doesn't understand how to make sugary frosting like America does!  I was in Heaven!  

 Between the great food, awesome seats, fun people around us, the 4 of us being together, CJ Wilson (a guy I went to FVHS with) pitching the first 5 innings, and the angels winning the game 4 to 1, I couldn't have asked for a better day at the ballpark! 

“Never allow the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game!” 

― Babe Ruth

What is that?!

A couple days ago, we asked my parents if they had any bikes we could ride around. Lucky for us, they had taken up biking a few years back and had 2 ready for us to take out for a spin. YAY!  So, we pumped up the tires and rode our happy little selves a mile and a half over to Chipotle for lunch, then over to Rite Aid for ice cream, and lastly over to my high school for a little tour for Aaron!  What had Aaron's attention wasn't my school tour though.  It was all of the fruit growing in people's backyards that would hang over the fence onto the road around my high school.  We stopped more than once so he could pick a giant lemon, a giant orange, and then.... we found this!  Here it is sitting next to one of the lemon's off my mom's lemon tree. Seriously, WHAT IS THAT?  

We couldn't believe how giant it was.  Aaron actually boosted me up into the tree so we could knock it down and take it home.  Now we've got a giant yellow fruit that smells like a lemon, but isn't one, with no idea what to do with it!   It's bigger than my hand for goodness sake!

Anyone have an idea of what this thing is?!

Our Day at Disneyland!

My dad: "If I could get you guys a free day at Disneyland, would you consider staying a couple more days here with us?"

Aaron and I: "YES!"

... and just like that, we were staying in CA! **Plus the 4runner we bought on Monday ended up being returned to the dealership (more on that later), so we're staying in CA to continue car searching...

So, yesterday, Aaron and I spent the day park hopping between Disneyland and California Adventure, laughing our heads off, stuffing our bellies, screaming on roller coasters, watching parades, walking and walking and walking, getting soaked, reliving childhood memories, people watching, and having an all around AWESOME DAY!  *Thanks Dad!

We decided to bring our brand new GoPro Video Camera for a test run today and felt a little like small babies trying to walk for the first time... The camera doesn't have an LCD screen, so you can't see what you're actually filming until you get home and load the videos to your latop, so most of them weren't worth posting.  However, I'll leave you with these, because I think they're fun.  

Just a little foot click! :)

-We were really lucky because the lines for the rides were never longer than 20 minutes - Yes, 20 MINUTES!!!  Awesome!  We waited in line for this roller coaster, California Screamin, at California Adventure for 10 minutes, so we rode it twice! :)  Here's your chance to ride it with us... ENJOY!  

I don't remember Disneyland having a lot of ducks, but they were everywhere this time, and most were pretty tame, so this was Aaron's attempt at feeding one. As a side note, did you know Disneyland releases over 200 feral cats every night to take care of the rats?

California Adventure has a really fun river rapids ride that we rode with 4 other people.  We lucked out when the big drop came and the raft turned just enough to get us out of the line of fire, or in this case REALLY COLD WATER!  I love this lady's reaction!

I may have told Aaron that he wouldn't get wet if he sat in the front seat of Splash Mountain... Hey, it's no fun when you don't get soaked, right?!  He was a good sport! :)

We stayed until about 8:30pm, but the temps were dropping fast, and we were still SOAKED from Splash Mountain, so we reluctantly called it a day and walked down main street, mesmerized by the twinkling lights and strange Disney people (lol), and stopped in the candy store for our last indulgence of the day, some yummy Disneyland saltwater taffy!


Disneyland... It really is the happiest place on earth!
**Thanks again Dad!